ADDICTION, DESPAIR, SPIRITUAL CRISIS

 

The Surface Crisis: Drugs Everywhere

In cities like Nanaimo and across Canada, drug use is no longer confined to the shadows. It’s on our streets, in our parks, near our schools, and increasingly, in our homes. The opioid crisis, driven by fentanyl and its lethal analogues, has become a defining issue of our time. But while headlines talk about overdose counts and harm reduction, what’s often missing is a deeper look into *why* this is happening. 

Band-Aids on a Bullet Wound

Safe injection sites. Free government-issued opioids. Naloxone kits. These are the tools of modern drug policy. And while they may save lives in the moment, they are not solutions. They are triage. We are not healing people—we are keeping them alive in their despair.

Mandatory Treatment: The Forbidden Option

While public policies continue to emphasize personal choice and non-intervention, many families, police officers, and front-line workers are quietly asking: when someone is clearly dying and cannot choose help, isn’t intervention a moral duty? The very idea of mandatory treatment remains taboo, yet the voluntary system is failing. It’s time to ask hard questions about what real compassion looks like.

 The Root Issue: A Spiritual Crisis

What if this is not just a medical or social issue? What if it’s spiritual? Many who are caught in addiction are not simply weak or irresponsible—they are *lost*. Lost in a culture that offers no higher purpose, no ultimate meaning, no transcendent truth. If man is more than flesh and blood—if he is spirit, soul, and body—then the wounds in the spirit must be addressed first. Without spiritual restoration, we are simply patching holes in a sinking ship.

 Can Society Solve What Society Has Caused?

We have created a world full of digital distraction, broken family systems, economic instability, and the glorification of self. It’s no wonder people feel overwhelmed. But the uncomfortable truth is this: a society that has stripped away its spiritual foundations may not be able to solve the problems it has created. That’s why every public policy feels like it’s coping—not curing.

Where Hope Lives

There are sparks of light. Faith-based programs. Indigenous healing circles. Community efforts grounded in purpose, relationship, and accountability. But these are often underfunded, sidelined, or treated with suspicion in a therapeutic culture that avoids moral or spiritual language. Yet, they may hold the very key that mainstream approaches are missing.

 A Call to Rethink Everything

It’s time to ask the bigger question: What if addiction is a symptom of a deeper spiritual hunger? And what if the way forward isn’t just more funding or more programs—but a radical return to meaning, community, and the spiritual roots we’ve forgotten?

Jim Taylor 

Voice of Nanaimo